AIG Takes the Cake for Gall

Buttwipes. Image from ThinkProgress

Have you seen those heartwarming AIG ads (oddly enough, as I type this, one is airing during an episode of The New Normal), talking about how they're so grateful that we--the American public--bailed them out, and how they paid us back with interest? "Thank you, America!" they say. Don't get teary eyed, they're just buttering you up. For what, I have no idea. But they intend to take some of that interest they paid us back. It's pretty galling. They were only saved because of the damage their stupidity would have wrought on the economy if we hadn't bailed them out. Now they complain about the terms?

[Excerpt]

Oddly enough, as I type this, one is airing during an episode of The New Normal.  

American International Group, the mega-insurer that nearly collapsed in 2008 before being bailed out, is now considering joining a lawsuit filed by its former chairman against the federal government. The lawsuit, filed in 2011 by former AIG chairman Maurice Greenberg, contends that the federal government violated the Fifth Amendment by taking too large a share in the company and charging it excessive interest rates on the $182 billion in loans it gave the company. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Rush Limbaugh Defends AIG. . .wait. . .What?

Image from Salon

There are few people in this country less popular than the folks at AIG. So how low do you have to go to find someone willing to defend them? Pretty low. First, Dana Perino of the similarly unpopular Bush Administration, felt sorry for these poor "middle class" millionaires. And now, Rush Limbaugh (and his army of imitators and also-rans) is leaping (bouncing?) to AIG's defense.

Limbaugh (et al) often works very hard to convince his audience of things they'd ordinarily reject. For example, he gets them to rail against the "death tax," even though most of his listeners would never have to pay it. And now, he's trying to get ordinary Americans to feel sympathy for the poor, beleagered multi-millionaire AIG bonus recipients.

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Limbaugh joined by other conservatives standing up for AIG against "mob rule"

In the wake of Rush Limbaugh's defense of American International Group (AIG) on his March 16 and March 17 broadcasts, several conservative media figures -- including Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck and Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin -- have joined him in condemning criticism of the company's employee retention bonuses. In a March 18 post to his Washington Post Co. blog, Greg Sargent cited Limbaugh's and Hannity's comments in reporting that while "GOP Congressional leaders have roundly condemned AIG and its executives, as part of a strategy to position themselves as heroic defenders of the taxpayers and to paint the Obama administration as weak and ineffectual ... increasingly, leading conservative media figures are moving in a different direction: Defending AIG. . ."

Read more at: MediaMatters

Dana Perino and the Millionaire Middle Class

Can there be any question now, that members of the former Bush Administration are out of touch? Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino is apparently unaware that people who get million dollar-plus bonuses in a contract are something other than middle class!

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Perino Defends AIG Bonuses: They Are ‘Middle Class People’ Who ‘Are Expecting To Get This Bonus’



Source: Think Progress

AIG Adds Kekst & Company to Roster of PR Firms

And we're paying for it! Yep, US-AIG has a list of public relations firms, and have hired the ultimate image fixer, Kekst & Company, to fix theirs. At the risk of total Rachel Maddow overload, here she is giving a serious dressing-down to one of the other PR Firms AIG uses, Burson-Marsteller. And of course to former Hillary Clinton image guy, Mark Penn. Another great job from Ms. Maddow.